Stone

   Egypt is rich in a variety of stones used for both construction and art. Stone was first used for construction in Early Dynastic tombsat Saqqaraand Abydos. The first fully stone building was the step pyramid of Djoser allegedly designed by Imhotep and built of limestone. Different types of limestone were used in the later pyramids and their associated temples. The finest limestone from the Tura quarries faced the pyramidal structure. Basalt was used for paving stones in the buildings. Granite was also used in the construction of the pyramids. Temples in the north were usually made of limestone, while many in the south were built of sandstone. Limestone could be melted down to make lime during the Roman Period, and as a result, very few temples made of this material survive; however, most domestic buildings and palaces were made of mudbrick rather than stone, so few survive.

   From the Predynastic Period onward, stone was also used to produce vessels, statues and jewelry. The various types included alabaster, anhydrite, basalt, breccia, gneiss, granodiorite, greywacke, jasper, serpentine, and later porphyry. Amethyst, carnelian, and turquoise were favored for jewelry. Only lapis lazuliappears to have been imported. Many of the quarries used by the Egyptians have been identified and studied. The most notable is the granite quarry at Aswan (Elephantine), but there were alabster and basalt quarries in the Fayum. Other quarries have been located in the Eastern Desert at Serabit el-Khadim and Wadi Maghara for turquoise and in the Western Desert at Gebel el-Asr, northwest of Abu Simbel, for gneiss, which was rediscovered in 1997.

   See also Akoris; Gebel el-Haridi; Gebel el-Silsila; Hatnub; Mons Claudianus; Mons Porphyrites; Wadi el-Hudi; Wadi Hammamat.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier